PERMIT one, who has a mother's heart, to say a few words to those away from their home and parents. It is trying to you to be absent from loved ones. Often you may weep and sigh in your own quiet room; but do you ever think that it is harder for your dear parents to spare you from their society than for you to be away. Could it be for your interests how gladly would they still shield you under the shadow of home. But this cannot always be. With yearning anxiety the parents have sought the best school-home or place of employment for you; they have carefully selected among the many, the very best, in their judgment, where to place their child, for mental and moral discipline. When you left your home, tears and loving words bade you adieu, while a mother's prayers followed you to your new situation. Day by day, and night after night, she thinks of you, and longs for your good.
How sad the case of those who have only worldly, ambitious or indifferent parents! God pity such and be their helper. And you that have a Christian mother, when you bow in prayer, forget not to thank your Father above for this precious boon. That gentle being who bore and nourished you, whose love is stronger than death, and knows no waning, is now separated from you, and do you not desire to "honor" her and her self-sacrificing devotion? I know you do, and how can you do it? By always conducting yourself as she would desire. God is the great "searcher of hearts," and to him are we amenable, but the faithful, judicious, godly mother, is his living oracle to her children. Possessed of such a mother, you are safe in following the rule just given. At home or abroad, at your duties or recreation, alone in your own room or in the busy throng, let the question ever recur, "Would my mother approve?" And be sure that you rightly interpret her wishes.
Two school-girls once stole away from their studies and spent a long time after dark, swinging with some gentlemen acquaintances. When asked if their mother would be pleased with this, they replied, "Our mother has so much confidence in us, that she would trust us anywhere." Was not this presuming upon her confidence?
Two other young girls at home, went out one evening and were gone till quite late. On their return, the mother anxiously inquired where they had been. They did not tell her. They had merely been walking in a retired street with two intimate friends. But suspecting that she would chide them, they concealed the truth and left her in anxious suspense. She died without knowing the facts, and many were the bitter tears of sorrow, afterwards shed by those penitent sisters. Oh, how cruel! They knew not what they did.
My dear girls, be sure and make your mother your confidant in all things; yes, all. Imagine not that she is unfeeling and too severe. Fancy not that she is not interested in all that pertains to your happiness, however trivial it may be.
There is a prevalent pernicious custom among young girls, that of making some young friend a confidant, instead of that best friend, the mother. This ought not so to be, and how many suffer in consequence of it. Some tell mother all, until their first young love springs into being, and then their lips are dumb. Then commences a shutting-up of the heart, and a gradual lessening of soul-communion, which proves a source of pain and heart-sobbings in after years. Fail not, then, to consult her wisdom and wishes in this most important matter. Many have learned, but too late, that a stern control and checking of some early love would have saved them many miserable days or years.
Rid yourself of the idea, so common among your class, that your companion for life must be selected immediately. I have known many who seemed to feel that at the age of sixteen, it was time to begin to think of this thing. The truth is, at that age, you are yourselves unfitted to select a husband, or to decide whom you would in future prefer. Your associates, at this age, very probably may not be your chosen ones when a few years older. Wait, wait, then, and let your precious moments be occupied in employments more appropriate to the present. Strive to fit yourself to be a true woman. Let your life be adorned with all womanly graces. Let modesty, integrity, decision and faithfulness, constitute the beauty of your character, while love and devotion to the good of all, shall make you an angel of mercy. These graces do not flourish naturally in the soil of your heart, hence cultivation will be necessary. Be watchful each hour, lest noxious weeds choke their growth, and never cease to guard against the "foes within." This is to be your life-work, and not to be intermitted while at school, or place of employment. The heart as well as the intellect is to be trained. Be conscientious in little things; strictly honest. Be frank, open-hearted, manifest such an integrity of purpose that all may safely trust in you. Again, exercise a spirit of cheerful obedience. In your youth and inexperience you may not be able to see the propriety of all these rules. But trust the wisdom of your superiors in this, in other respects, and believe they seek your highest welfare, and not the gratification of arbitrary power, as some of you sometimes imagine. If perchance you need and receive reproof, be sure to take it kindly. Your teachers are faithful friends, and instead of resenting a reproof and hating the reprover, lay it to heart, resolving never to deserve a similar censure again, and love with stronger gratitude than before the one who has been thus faithful. Be faithful in all your employments, even in the least. Never neglect one duty to perform another; for duties never clash. Take up each duty as it comes, perform it to the best of your ability, and be satisfied, and ready for the next. Systematize all your labors, having a specified time for each, so far as it is possible. Much is accomplished in this way. Let no duty be neglected, however small. Especially, take time every day to commune with the Father of your spirit, and to learn His will, for without this, you are but poorly prepared for study or any other effort.
In the choice of associates, seek those whose influence over you will be decidedly elevating. As an author has said, "We insensibly imbibe coloring from those with whom we associate, whether by the living voice or written page." Bear this in mind, and let it have its influence in the selection of associates, and of the books you read. You do not need a large number of particular friends. The old stanza has it:—
"Have communion with few;
Be intimate with one;
Deal friendly with all;
Speak evil of none."
This leads me to speak of the government of the tongue. Be wary of that "unruly member." The power of speech is given us for a wise purpose; to be the source of pleasure and not of pain. Be careful, then, lest you "offend in word." Have a kind word for all; it costs nothing, but is "above all price." Watch for opportunities to drop a word of sympathy or assistance, and the heart of the desponding one will bless you.
In conclusion, let me ask, do you write often to those dear ones, at the home fire-side? Could you read that mother's heart, and see the anxiety, the depth of love, the tender solicitude there, you would be faithful in this duty. A journal kept for mother's eye, would be a treasure to her. If you have been at all negligent in this respect, go now and tell her, as well as you can with ink and pen, your love for her, your appreciation of her self-forgetting care; confess all your ingratitude and crave her blessing.
Neglect not that precious Bible, which her hand, perhaps, has placed in your trunk, and ever seek to be molded into the image of the perfect Pattern.—H., in Advocate and Guardian.
The Home Circle.
LOSING AND LIVING.
FOREVER the sun is pouring its gold
On a hundred worlds that beg and borrow;
His warmth he squanders on summits cold;
His wealth on the homes of want and sorrow;
To withhold his largeness of precious light
Is to bury himself in eternal night.
To give is to live.
The flower shines not for itself at all;
Its joy is the joy it freely diffuses;
Of beauty and balm it is prodigal,
And it lives in the light it freely loses.
No choice for the rose but glory or doom,
To exhale or smother, to wither or bloom,
To deny is to die.
The seas lend silvery rays to the land,
The land its sapphire-streams to the ocean;
The heart sends blood to the brain of command,
The brain to the heart its lightning motion;
And over and ever we yield our breath,
Till the mirror is dry and images death.
To live is to give.
He is dead whose hand is not open wide
To help the need of a human brother;
He doubles the length of his life-long ride
Who gives his fortunate place to another;
And a thousand million lives are his
Who carries the world in his sympathies.
To deny is to die.
—Selected
GOOD ADVICE.
By Burlington Hawkeye
My son, don't be in too great a hurry to accept "advanced opinions." It is "the thing" to be "advanced" in this progressive day and generation, but there's a heap of shallowness in it. Did you ever notice, my son, that the man who tells you he cannot believe the Bible, is usually able to believe almost anything else? You will find men, my son, who turn with horror and utter disbelief from the Bible and joyfully embrace the teachings of Buddha. It is quite the thing just now, my son, for a civilized, enlightened man, brought up in a Christian country and an age of wisdom to be a Buddhist. And if you ask six men who profess Buddhism who Buddha was, one of them will tell you he was an Egyptian sooth-sayer, who lived two hundred years before Moses. Another will tell you that he brought letters from Phœnicia and introduced them in Greece; a third will tell you that she is a beautiful woman of Farther India, bound by her vows to perpetual chastity; a fourth will, with little hesitation, say he was a Brahma of the ninth degree and a holy disciple of Confucius; and of the other two, one will frankly admit that he doesn't know, and the other will say, with some indecision, that he was either a dervish of the Nile (whatever that is) or a felo-de se, he can't be positive which.
Before you propose to know more than anybody and everybody else, my son, be very certain that you are at least abreast of two-thirds of your fellow-men. I don't want to suppress any inclination you may have toward genuine free thought and careful, honest investigation, my son. I only want to avoid the great fault of atheism in this day and generation; I don't want to see you try to build a six-story house on a one-story foundation.
Before you criticise, condemn, and finally revise the work of creation, my son, be pretty confident that you know something about it as it is, and don't, as a man who is older in years and experience than yourself, don't, let me implore you, don't turn this world upside down and sit down on it, and flatten it entirely out, until you have made or secured another one for the rest of us to live in while you demolish the old one. If ever you should develop into an "advanced" atheist, my son, just do that much for the rest of us.—Burlington Hawkeye.
ONE DROP AT A TIME.
"Life," says the late John Foster, "is expenditure; we have it, but as continually losing it; we have the use of it, but as continually wasting it. Suppose a man confined in some fortress, under the doom to stay there until his death; and suppose there is for his use a dark reservoir of water, to which it is certain none can ever be added. He knows, suppose, that the quantity is not very great; he cannot penetrate to ascertain how much, but it may be very little. He has drawn from it, by means of a fountain, a good while already, and draws from it every day. But how would he feel each time of drawing, and each time of thinking of it? Not as if he had a perennial spring to go to; not, 'I have a reservoir, I may be at ease.' No; but, I had water yesterday—I have water to-day; but my having had it, and my having it to-day, is the very cause that I shall not have it on some day that is approaching. And at the same time I am compelled to this fatal expenditure! So of our mortal, transient life! And yet men are very indisposed to admit the plain truth, that life is a thing which they are in no other way possessing than as necessarily consuming; and that even in this imperfect sense of possession, it becomes every day less a possession!"
Husband
HUSBAND.—The etymology of this word may not be generally known. The head of a family is called husband from the fact that he is, or ought to be, the band which unites the house together—or the bond of union among the family. It is to be regretted that all husbands are not house-bands in reality, as well as in name.
BATTLE CREEK SANITARIUM.
By John Harvey Kellogg
Institution Founded 1866......4000 Patients Successfully Treated.
THIS INSTITUTION, for completeness of appointment, and extent of facilities, is unrivalled in this country. Its splendid arrangements for HEATING AND VENTILATION, together with special appliances for regulating the humidity of the atmosphere, makes this Institution UNEQUALED AS A WINTER RESORT FOR CHRONIC INVALIDS.
Even persons suffering with pulmonary difficulties do much better here than in Florida.
All known useful remedies for disease are employed, including Turkish, Russian, Vapor, Electro-Thermal Electro-Vapor, all kinds of Water Baths, Sun Baths, Swedish Movements, Electricity, etc., etc.
Terms very reasonable. J. H. KELLOGG, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Address for Circulars :—SANITARIUM, Battle Creek, Mich.
ITEMS OF NEWS.
By Editor
—Troops are being ordered with all dispatch to the Indian country.
—The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad failed, and a panic in railroad securities resulted in London.
—California has been visited with severe north winds, and considerable damage to wheat is reported.
—The 15th of June has been fixed as the date for the meeting of the Supplementary Conference in Berlin.
—The coasting steamer Monterey which left San Francisco May 24th for Mendocino, was wrecked and sunk near Fort Ross. Passengers saved.
—There are no indications of the German Diet and the Pope coming to an understanding. There is a fire ready to be kindled at the first opportunity.
—Mono county, Cal., has an alkali lake. A traveler says, "for bitterness and promiscuous meanness the waters of Mono lake surpass those of the Dead Sea."
—Judge Tourgee, the author of "A Fool's Errand," is living in Denver, Col. He is said to be engaged on a new story, "Making Brick without Straw," a story of the Negro Exodus.
—Fourteen cases of sunstroke, twelve of which were fatal occurred in Brooklyn, N. Y. on Friday, May 29. The weather in the East is hotter than has ever been known before at this season.
—The Senate Commerce Committee have agreed to insert in the River and Harbor Bill an authorization for special surveys for the solving of the debris question. This is one of the most important questions to California now before the country.
—Proceedings in the Kalloch impeachment case have been quashed, on a purely "Pickwickian" ruling. His offence was clearly impeachable, but it was not clear to the court that it was committed by Kalloch as Mayor, or by Kalloch as a private citizen!
—Kearney has been released from prison after forty days' confinement. A great demonstration was made at the sand lots when he reiterated his old cry, "The Chinese must go," and said that he was going to be "bitterer than ever." How he can do this no one can imagine.
—The M. E. General Conference adjourned May 28. Bishop Scott is superannuated. An Episcopal residence was fixed at San Francisco. Missions were authorized in Utah, Dakota, and Montana. Resolutions favoring prohibition were adopted; also instructing stewards to procure unfermented juice of the grape for communion.
—A terrible cyclone visited Savoy, on the Texas Pacific Railroad, destroying the town, killing nine persons and wounding sixty, some of them fatally. Nineteen business houses, the R. R. depot, and twenty other buildings, were destroyed. Only five houses in the place were not damaged. May 29 a cyclone also passed a few miles north of Evansville, Ind., blowing down a number of buildings.
—Iceland even has five newspapers, whose editors read English, German, and French; and these languages are understood by the educated classes generally. No country, it is said, reads so many books in proportion to its population. A number of Russian scholars are at work on a series of histories of the world's literature, to appear in St. Petersburg the present year.
—The Methodist General Conference elected four Bishops, as follows: Dr. Henry W. Warren, of Philadelphia; Cyrus D. Foss, President of Wesleyan University; John F. Hurst, President of Drew Theological Seminary; and Chancellor Erastus O. Haven, of Syracuse University. Dr. Haven was formerly Chancellor of Michigan State University. He is cousin to the late Bishop Gilbert Haven. All of these are men of large culture and ability.
—The Christian Union says: "The Presbyterians are discussing the cause of their denominational decline. It is certainly significant that New York has now exactly the number of Presbyterian churches that it had thirty years ago, when its population was less than half a million, while Chicago has lost nine Presbyterian churches in ten years. The Chicago Interior thinks this decline is due to the spread of rationalism, while the Christian at Work ascribes it to a growing religious indifference resulting from the demoralization of the late war. If it is due to either of these causes why is there not a corresponding falling off in other denominations?"
—From Brackett, Texas, May 28, comes the following report: At 1:30 this morning the heaviest and most disastrous rain storm set in that has ever been known here. It is still pouring in torrents. All Brackett, except portions on two hills, is inundated. In the main street the water is from five feet to eight feet deep, and rushing down the street with almost incredible rapidity. The floor of every business house is from one to five feet under water. Several men at the mercy of the waters went down, and all efforts to save them were of no avail. Great anxiety is felt for the safety of families along Los Moras Creek. More than twenty people have been drowned and a dozen houses washed away. Many houses were washed from their foundations. All residences in the lower part of the town are being vacated as fast as possible. The greatest excitement prevails.
A STIMULATING EXAMPLE.
The Evangelist tells a story of a young minister in whom the true spirit of his calling is evidently present. He went from a Congregational seminary to a Missouri town about five years ago. His church was the feeblest one in the place, and soon men said “No Congregational element in this town.” He created one. His salary was about $700. Through many discouragements he remained at his post, never once complaining or “craning” his neck for a rich church, a larger field, or more conspicuous position. At last he began to get influence, and to use it aright. He had a call to a stronger church at $1,500 salary. He quietly refused. Then a call came from a great church east of the Alleghanies with an offer of $5,000 salary and moving expenses. None of these things stirred him. He never even told of it in his parish. The call was repeated. He said: “No, my work is here till God shuts the door.” And a goodly inheritance is his to-day. His salary is still less than $800. But he has influence over all the churches in his place greater than any other man in that section.
Roman Catholic Intolerance
By Christian Herald
Three boys were severely whipped by a Roman Catholic priest recently, for having acted as pall-bearers at the funeral of a Protestant boy. The priest has been indicted for assault and battery, and the case excited so very bitter a feeling that the venue of the trial had to be changed three times to avoid disturbance. The priest was found guilty, and the penalty imposed will cost him about $328. We are often told that the spirit of persecution which disgraced the Roman Catholic Church in past times was due to the spirit of the age, and not to the principles of the Church. But recent events have shown that that Church is of the same temper in these days, and that its tyranny and intolerance extend into every department of social life, and that if it ever acquires its old power it will use it as mercilessly as it did in the days of the Spanish Inquisition. Indeed, the Church at this day endorses everything that was ever done by its members in its name.—Christian Herald.
How to Be a Man
How to be a Man.—When Carlyle was asked by a young person to point out what course of reading he thought best to make him a man, he replied in his characteristic manner, "It is not by books alone, or by books chiefly, that a man becomes in all points a man. Study to do faithfully whatsoever thing in your actual situation, then and now, you find either expressly or tacitly laid down to your charge—that is, stand to your post; stand in it like a true soldier. Silently devour the many chagrins of it—all situations have many—and see you aim not to quit it, without doing all that is your duty."
RURAL HEALTH RETREAT.
THIS INSTITUTION is located about two and a half miles from St. Helena, Napa County, California, at the
CRYSTAL SPRINGS.
The water is clear, pure and cool. The facilities for heating water, and bathing, are unsurpassed. The situation is both pleasant and healthy, it being about 300 feet above the valley. The scenery is unsurpassed for beauty, including a view of valley and mountain. The building is spacious, and the table accommodations are first-class.
The institution is just opened.
The medical department is under direction of E. J. Waggoner, M. D., who has had experience in practice in the Medical and Surgical Sanitarium at Battle Creek, Mich.
Those who seek medical treatment under favorable and health-giving conditions, and those who seek a pleasant resort from the heat and business of the city, cannot fail to be pleased at the Retreat.
Terms reasonable. For particulars address A. B. ATWOOD, ST. HELENA, CAL.
BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, AND TRACTS, ISSUED BY THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, AND FOR SALE AT THIS OFFICE.
The Sanctuary and the 2300 Days of Daniel 8:14. By Elder U. Smith. This question has developed the people known as Seventh-day Adventists, and is the pivotal doctrine upon which their applications of prophecy largely depend. 352 pp. $1.00
Thoughts on Daniel, critical and practical. By Elder U. Smith. An exposition of the book of Daniel, verse by verse. 384 pp. 1.00
Thoughts on Revelation. By Elder U. Smith. With notes or remarks on every verse in the book of Revelation. 352 pp. 1.00
Life of Wm. Miller, with portrait. Interesting sketches of the life and public labors of this pioneer in the Advent movement in this country. 416 pp. 1.00
The Biblical Institute. A synopsis of the lectures given at the Institute held at Oakland, Cal., April, 1877, covering the main points of our faith. 352 pp. 1.00
History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week, for the period of 6,000 years. By Elder J. N. Andrews. This is a work of unusual interest, prepared with great care, and is full of historical and Scriptural facts. 528 pp. 1.00
The Nature and Destiny of Man. By Elder U. Smith. This work treats on the conditions of man in death, and his final destiny. 356 pp. 1.00
The Spirit of Prophecy; or the great controversy between Christ and his angels and Satan and his angels, in four volumes. By Mrs. E. G. White. These volumes cover the time from the fall of Satan to the destruction of sin and sinners at the close of the one thousand years of Revelation 20. Each 400 pp.—
Vol. I. Old Testament facts to Christ.
Vol. II. Life and Ministry of Christ.
Vol. III. The Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, with the Lives of His Apostles.
Vol. IV. (In preparation). Each, 1.00
Sermon on the Two Covenants. By Elder J. N. Andrews. An able argument on an important subject. 48 pp. 10 cts
Life of Elder Joseph Bates, with portrait. 352 pp. 1.00
The Bible from Heaven. By Elder D. M. Canright. An argument to show that the Bible is not the work of men, but is of God. 300 pp. 80 cts. Revised edition (in preparation). 1.00
The Constitutional Amendment. A Discussion between Elder W. H. Littlejohn and the editor of the Christian Statesman, on the Sabbath. 1.00
Spiritual Songs. A choice collection of hymns and tunes. 416 pp. 1.00
Song Anchor, for Sabbath-school and Praise Service. By J. E. White. A new book, with excellent new words and music. 164 pp. Per hundred, $30.00. Single copies, 85 cts
The Two Laws, as set forth in both Testaments. By Elder D. M. Canright. 104 pp. 15 cts
The Sunday Seventh-Day Examined. A refutation of the teachings of Mede, Jennings, Akers and Fuller. By Elder J. N. Andrews. 88 pp. 10 cts
The Seven Trumpets. An exposition of the subject as set forth in the 8th and 9th chapters of the Revelation. 96 pp. 10 cts
Refutation of the Age to Come. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. A most decisive refutation of the view that men may find pardon after the Saviour has closed his work in the Sanctuary above. 168 pp. 20 cts
The Morality of the Sabbath. By Elder D. M. Canright. A complete refutation of a common objection against the Sabbath. 96 pp. 15 cts
The Resurrection of the Unjust. A vindication of the doctrine. By Elder H. Waggoner. 100 pp. 15 cts
A Word for the Sabbath, or False Theories Exposed. A poem. By Elder U. Smith. 60 pp. 15 cts
The Ministration of Angels, and the Origin, History and Destiny of Satan. By Elder D. M. Canright. 144 pp. 20 ct
Vindication of the True Sabbath. By Elder J. W. Morton, formerly missionary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, to Hayti. 68 pp. 10 cts
Redeemer and Redeemed. By Elder James White. This work sets forth the plan of redemption in its three stages. 40 pp. 10 cts
The Second Advent. Manner, object, and nearness of the event. 32 pp. 4 cts
The Sufferings of Christ. A most graphic and touching description of what the world's Redeemer has suffered for us; calculated to incite every one to new devotion and consecration to the cause of Christ. 32 pp. 4 cts
The Present Truth. Showing that every age has a truth applicable to it alone, and what is the present truth of this generation. 4 cts
The Seventh-day Adventists. A sketch of their origin, progress, principles, etc. 32 pp. 4 cts
The United States in the Light of Prophecy. An exposition of Revelation 13: 11-17. By Elder U. Smith. Applying to our own land and time, this prophecy possesses surpassing interest for every American reader. 200 pp. 50 cts. Paper covers, 25 cts
Thoughts on Baptism. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. A careful examination of the subject of Christian Baptism in the light of history and the Bible. It presents strong arguments against the notion of trine immersion. 186 pp. Bound in flexible cloth, 35 cts. Paper covers, 25 cts
The Spirit of God, its Gifts and Manifestations to the end of the Christian age. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. 144 pp. 15 cts
The Three Messages of Revelation 14: 6-12; particularly the third angel's message and the two-horned beast. By Elder J. N. Andrews. 144 pp. 15 cts
Systematic Benevolence. Setting forth the Bible plan of giving for the support of the ministry. 64 pp. 10 cts
The Nature and Tendency of Modern Spiritualism. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. A thorough exposure of Spiritualism; application of the Scriptures, and copious extracts from a library of Spiritualist publications. 184 pp. 20 cts
Matthew Twenty-four. A clear and forcible exposition of our Lord's discourse upon the Mount of Olives. By Elder James White. 64 pp. 10 cts
The Truth Found. The nature and obligation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. 64 pp. 10 cts
Christ and the Sabbath: or, Christ in the Old Testament and the Sabbath in the New. By Elder James White. 56 pp. 10 cts
The Atonement. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. An examination of a remedial system in the light of nature and revelation. 168 pp. 20 cts
Our Faith and Hope. Sermons on the Coming and Kingdom of Christ. By Elder James White. 182 pp. 25 cts
Redemption. The fall and its results, and the methods by which we are brought back to the favor of God and to immortality. 32 pp. 4 cts
ADDRESS, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, OAKLAND, CAL.
Books, Pamphlets, and Tracts Available
By Editor
ANY of the books, pamphlets and tracts issued at this Office, may be obtained of Eld. J. N. Loughborough, Ravenswood, Shirley Road, Southampton, England, who will furnish catalogues and prices in English money, and receive subscriptions for all our periodicals.
A SUNDAY ARGUMENT.
By Editor
LEONARD BACON, D. D., in a lengthy article in the Christian at Work, on the fourth commandment, tries to solve the Sunday question, by admitting the absence of direct testimony on the subject from Christ and his apostles, and settles to this conclusion:—
“The ‘Christian consciousness’—let me rather say, the spirit of Christ in the hearts of those who, not having seen him, loved him—taught Greek and Roman, barbarian and Scythian, to count their days into weeks and to separate week from week by what we call the Christian Sabbath.”
“Christian consciousness” to indicate religious duty in the absence of Scripture requirement must be a splendid affair. It is so delightfully indefinite that all classes must admire and love it, except certain old-fashioned ones who persistently cling to the word of God, and vainly hope to keep the progressive Christians of this advanced age tied down to “the law and the testimony.” Paul wrote that “all good works” were inculcated in “the holy Scriptures;” but Paul did not live in the nineteenth century, and he was not a D. D.!
This Sabbath controversy brings to light some singular phases of human thought among professed Christians. Dr. Bacon has not a whit improved upon the methods of the Catholics on this point; indeed, the Catechisms of the Catholic church give a more plausible theory than he has offered—one more tangible and consistent, and not so subversive of the claims of divine revelation.
How easily people are convinced in favor of Sunday. Nay how determined they are to be convinced, reason or no reason. A gentleman of good standing both in the community and in the Methodist church told us, years ago when we were anxiously inquiring into this matter, that he had not a particle of doubt that Christ and his apostles changed the Sabbath, but he was always surprised that they did not say anything about it! Our inquiry as to how we should know that they changed it as long as they maintained a studied silence on the subject, failed to elicit any light from him, or to shake his confidence in his assumed fact.
We label the above “A Sunday Argument.” Such it is, put forth by one of the most eminent scholars in the land. It answers its purpose admirably. But if such an argument were put forth in favor of the Sabbath it would be overwhelmed with a flood of ridicule poured out from one end of the land to the other. But a “multitude of mighty men” cannot shield us from the judgment of God in the great day when every “refuge of lies” shall be swept away.
TIME OF CAMP-MEETING.
By Editor
As FAR as heard from the various churches express a very strong desire to have Elder Haskell attend our Northern California Camp-meeting, while they all say that it will be impossible to have a full attendance at the earliest time indicated by the Conference Committee. The present season is also later than usual, thus making the difficulty of an early meeting the greater.
MINISTERIAL HELP.
By Editor
WE much regret that our efforts to procure ministerial help so as to have tent meetings in Oakland and San Francisco have thus far proved unsuccessful. Although, as was stated in the Review, Elder Haskell, the president of the California Conference, cleared the way, those to whom special invitations were given have made no response to the call. Brethren, we must pray more earnestly to the Lord of the harvest for help. We still hope to receive aid in time to hold a meeting in one of these cities.
THE BAPTISTS IN CALIFORNIA.
THAT old and reliable Baptist paper, the New York Examiner and Chronicle, says of the action of the recent Baptist State Convention:—
“The condition of our Baptist cause in and about San Francisco is to the last degree melancholy. The State Convention has just met at Sacramento, and the Committee on Resolutions reported one expressing condemnation of the course of the two Kallochs, father and son. But on a point of order, raised by the elder Kalloch, the resolution was tabled by a vote of 46 to 36. In ordinary circumstances no State Convention can be a disciplinary body. But when one Baptist minister commits murder, and another is guilty of promoting sedition, it is within the province of any number of Baptist men meeting together to express their abhorrence of the conduct of such men. If there is no power in the Baptist denomination of California to condemn so great an evil as Kallochism, it is in so bad a way that it might fittingly receive the pity of a community of Kaffirs.”
One-Term Teachers
MANY are strongly advocating the idea that no one shall serve more than one term as President of the United States. Three, or even two, terms afford insufficient opportunity for all the aspirants. Carry out the principle. Let the school boards determine that no teacher shall be permitted to teach more than one term of school. This will give them all a chance.
The True Sacrifice to God
By Gregory the Great
"IN order that a person should show compassion to the needy in a right manner, two things are requisite; the man who gives, and the thing which is given. But the man is of incomparably greater value than the thing. Whoever, therefore, communicates of his earthly substance to his destitute neighbor, but does not guard his own life from evil, gives God his property, but gives himself to sin. He presents what is of least value to his Creator, and that which is of greater value he retains for the evil one. Only that is a genuine sacrifice to God, when the branches of devotion proceed from the root of righteousness."—Gregory the Great in Neander.
Have You Made the Lord Your Choice?
HAVE you made the Lord your choice?
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
By Editor
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—OR—
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Richest and Poorest
RICHEST are they
That live for Christ so well,
The longest day
Would scarce suffice to tell
In what wide ways their benefactions fell.
Poorest are they
That live to self so true,
Their longest day
Brings but such good to view
As they may need self's service to pursue.
